Mayor dedicates new urban garden program in Sunnyside

Updated 6:09 pm, Saturday, November 3, 2012

Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle

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Mayor Annise Parker and Senator Rodney Ellis plant herbs and vegetables at the newly created Harry Holmes Healthy Harvest garden in Sunnyside, Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012, in Houston. Mayor Parker helped to dedicate the community garden at 4646 Brinkley, in Sunnyside. This is the first project by Urban Harvest's I-Grow Houston initiative, which helps to build community gardens on vacant land in areas with poor access to healthy fresh foods.

Mayor Annise Parker and Senator Rodney Ellis plant herbs and vegetables at the newly created Harry Holmes Healthy Harvest garden in Sunnyside, Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012, in Houston. Mayor Parker helped to dedicate the community garden at 4646 Brinkley, in Sunnyside. This is the first project by Urban Harvest's I-Grow Houston initiative, which helps to build community gardens on vacant land in areas with poor access to healthy fresh foods.

Royniah Harrison, 7, reacts as the rain hits her as she and her cousin Donisha Harris, 13, attend a ceremony at the newly created Harry Holmes Healthy Harvest garden in Sunnyside, Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012, in Houston. Mayor Annise Parker helped to dedicate the community garden at 4646 Brinkley, in Sunnyside. This is the first project by Urban Harvest's I-Grow Houston initiative, which helps to build community gardens on vacant land in areas with poor access to healthy fresh foods.

Royniah Harrison, 7, reacts as the rain hits her as she and her cousin Donisha Harris, 13, attend a ceremony at the newly created Harry Holmes Healthy Harvest garden in Sunnyside, Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012, in

Royniah Harrison, 7, reacts as the rain hits her as she and her cousin Donisha Harris, 13, attend a ceremony at the newly created Harry Holmes Healthy Harvest garden in Sunnyside, Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012, in Houston. Mayor Annise Parker helped to dedicate the community garden at 4646 Brinkley, in Sunnyside. This is the first project by Urban Harvest's I-Grow Houston initiative, which helps to build community gardens on vacant land in areas with poor access to healthy fresh foods.

Royniah Harrison, 7, reacts as the rain hits her as she and her cousin Donisha Harris, 13, attend a ceremony at the newly created Harry Holmes Healthy Harvest garden in Sunnyside, Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012, in

Houston City Councilmember Wanda Adams helps Matthew Osueke, 3, plant herbs and vegetables at the newly created Harry Holmes Healthy Harvest garden in Sunnyside, Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012, in Houston. Mayor Parker helped to dedicate the community garden at 4646 Brinkley, in Sunnyside. This is the first project by Urban Harvest's I-Grow Houston initiative, which helps to build community gardens on vacant land in areas with poor access to healthy fresh foods.

Royniah Harrison, 7, reacts as the rain hits her as she and her cousin Donisha Harris, 13, attend a ceremony at the newly created Harry Holmes Healthy Harvest garden in Sunnyside, Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012, in Houston. Mayor Annise Parker helped to dedicate the community garden at 4646 Brinkley, in Sunnyside. This is the first project by Urban Harvest's I-Grow Houston initiative, which helps to build community gardens on vacant land in areas with poor access to healthy fresh foods.

Royniah Harrison, 7, reacts as the rain hits her as she and her cousin Donisha Harris, 13, attend a ceremony at the newly created Harry Holmes Healthy Harvest garden in Sunnyside, Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012, in

Houston City Councilmember Wanda Adams helps Matthew Osueke, 3, plant herbs and vegetables along side Senator Rodney Ellis at the newly created Harry Holmes Healthy Harvest garden in Sunnyside, Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012, in Houston. Mayor Parker helped to dedicate the community garden at 4646 Brinkley, in Sunnyside. This is the first project by Urban Harvest's I-Grow Houston initiative, which helps to build community gardens on vacant land in areas with poor access to healthy fresh foods.

She wore her rubber boots to Saturday's news conference in Sunnyside, where Annise Parker dedicated a new community garden - the first to use city of Houston property. When the speeches were over and it came time to plant some herbs, Pinkston didn't bother with gloves.

"I want to get my fingers in the dirt," said the 53-year-old administrative assistant, who has two plots in the garden at 4646 Brinkley in southeast Houston.

As a light rain fell, Pinkston joined Parker in gently setting some new plants into the waiting soil of a communal raised bed that measures 14 feet square.

The garden, named The Harry Holmes Healthy Harvest in honor of the man who built the community, also has 14 individual plots that measure 20 feet by 5 feet, six fruit trees, a compost bin and rainwater barrels.

It occupies a formerly vacant lot and is the first project of I-Grow Houston, an initiative of Urban Harvest, a nonprofit group that promotes gardening and farmers markets to reduce hunger.

I-Grow Houston acquires vacant lots through the city's Land Assemblage Redevelopment Authority, which works to repurpose tax-delinquent and abandoned lots. Often, the lots are in low-income areas that are apt to be in so-called "food deserts," or neighborhoods with little access to supermarkets selling fresh produce.

"Limited access to nutritional food and fresh fruits and vegetables is a problem we are working to address," Parker said Saturday. "By giving neighborhoods tools to grow their own vegetable gardens, we are not only improving nutritional choices that increase health but bringing neighbors together to build a positive environment."

The purpose of the large communal herb garden is to encourage gardeners to devote their individual plots to planting vegetables, said Diana Liga, a horticulturist who designed the new garden and oversaw its construction.

It was built in two days, Oct. 26-27, with the help of about 100 volunteers, according to Libby Kennedy, who manages Urban Harvest's farmers markets.

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